Combined PhD Folklore &
American Studies, Indiana University; MA Folklore & Mythology, UCLA; AB
English Literature, Georgetown University. Member of AFS since 1993. Research interests: festival and play, landscape and place,
and medical folklore. Teaching experience: Folklore and American Studies
courses at Indiana University-Bloomington, IUPUI, and Utah State
University. Public sector
experience: intern, advisory, and paid positions with the Idaho Commission on
the Arts, Traditional Arts Indiana, and the Utah Arts Council, and museum and
public programming experience as the local organizer for the Utah showing of
the Weavings of War, Fabrics of Memory
exhibit. Publications: "For the Good of the Community”: Identity,
Conflict and Change in a Western Winter Carnival (Utah State University
Press, 2011); Special Issue of Western
Folklore: Space, Place, Emergence (2007) edited with Dr. Paul Jordan-Smith;
Folklore and Folk Arts in Idaho: An
Educational Resource Guide (1997); Festivals!
USA, a series of six non-fiction children’s books (Rosen Publishing Group,
1999); numerous academic essays in major journals, book chapters, and
encyclopedia articles. Service:
book review editor for Western Folklore;
Administrative Vice-President, Western States Folklore Society;
Secretary-Treasurer, Folklore Society of Utah; Folk Arts Panel Advisory member,
Utah Arts Council; Advisory Board Member, Americana:
The Journal of American Popular Culture; AFS Organizing Committee member
(Boise); AFS Membership Committee member; Convener, AFS Women’s Section;
Veterans History Project interviewing workshop leader. Awards: College Humanist of the Year,
Utah State University (2010); Human Ties award, Utah Humanities Council (2008).

This is an exciting time to
be a folklorist and a member of AFS.
Digitization has revitalized archival use, electronic databases have
widened the accessibility of folklore scholarship, and the ready availability
of new media allow for the development of programming and products for diverse
audiences that would have been impossible even ten years ago. The Open Folklore project, which offers
open-access to a range of folkloristic work, is a recent example of new
opportunities available. AFS also
has been steadily increasing its presence in the international realm and in
public policy. As a board member,
I would support this work in order to keep AFS moving in these productive
directions. At the same time,
older issues—also important—remain: increasing the participation and visibility
of women and minorities in the society, membership retention, and finding new
means of financial support are areas in which there is still work to be done. A formal, organization-wide mentorship
system available to everyone at all career levels and career types would
resolve some of the diversity issues; models for such a system can be found in
other scholarly societies.
Additionally, undergraduate research is becoming increasingly important;
finding ways to encourage more undergraduate participation at AFS and in
folklore studies generally would contribute to our overall disciplinary
health. Finally, we should look at
professional and political societies that are successful in influencing policy
decisions, such as the American Medical Association, for models on how to
further the important work currently being done. As a member of the Executive Board, I would actively work
towards these goals.